Made in China: Unexplained Photos Show Rough Working Conditions
Coming into the WINDING ROAD offices today by way of a few circulating emails are these rather dismal images of what seems to be the shop floor of a spark plug manufacturing operation in China.
To be clear, there is very little in the way of information to color what we’re seeing in these images, but the overall picture is one of rather scary working conditions. Cramped workbenches, metal shavings in every corner of the room, as well as what looks like up close and personal handling of high-speed machinery, can all be found in the gallery below.
We’ve certainly seen what could be termed unsafe working conditions before, and these images would seem to fill that bill. What do you think of the mysterious Chinese spark plug shop? Have your say in comments.
Comments
BruceinCary
Duh
Now you know where the costs savings are generated.
Aaron
Certainly gives a different connotation to the term "hand-crafted."
It's sad to not at least see safety glasses being used...or a broom and dustpan for that matter.
fantasyfreddy
I had no idea spark-plugs were hand-made!!
Does look very dangerous! Should at least have work gloves on, and a swept floor and work area, and masks to keep the metal filings out of lungs, and open windows -- at the very least! Notice the band-aids on fingers - yikes! I wonder how many fingers are lost, or shortened, per year there!!
Paul In Jersey
It reminds me of metal shop in junior high! Only we had a soldering iron that was heated in some kind of fire thing.
detroit9000
Is it a human rights violation to not tax imports that can be proven to have been made in such conditions?
We're just as bad as they are.
CHARLES G.
Is it really any different than conditions in America during our industrialization? Probably, but only because we know more. What remains constant is the conditions people are willing to work under in order to make a living.
And yes, they are making a living, if not by our standards then by their own.
Mark M
Ehh...
Sorry, but that's really not that bad. I've spent a fair majority of my career in heavy industry in the US and frankly most place I've been look at least as bad as that.
Most Americans think of most of our industry as being the uber-clean super-industrial automotive of aerospace assembly factories they see on TV. But the reality is that it tends to look a whole lot more like the above pictures than those modern assembly plants most people picture in their mind. There's a bit more automation (those women putting components together at a table would likely never happen here), but the general conditions are much the same right down to putting your hands within fractions of an inch of something that could take off a limb in a millisecond.
About the only thing that really sticks out to me when I see all those pictures is the people. Compared to what you see in a US facility where similar type of work is done those Chinese seem to REALLY care about their personal appearance. They're all so clean and well-dressed; not at ALL like the people you see working in similar conditions here.
I'm not saying that conditions in China aren't bad. They often are horrific. Just that these pictures aren't really good examples of it.
Bob Martel
Does anyone else think that the guy in picture 4 of 10 looks like Rudy Guliani?
Jonathan Fung [Gotakon]
These pictures are very characteristic of many factory working conditions in China. When I visited this past year (click my name to see a blog on a few of the things I saw there) we were able to see some factories and were able to observe production. And I can tell you that what you see in these pictures is quite normal.
Yes, the conditions sometimes aren't the most clean, and safety equipment isn't always the greatest priority (although what we see in these pics and what I saw was never the most dangerous work...you don't die if you lose a finger.) And the tools and equipment they have to work with isn't always the most modern, but they know how to make do. And yes, many of them are dressed very well, and that's a reflection of the culture in China, where everyone is striving to show the best face they can. Even if they're just working in a drone-like mass production job in a facility like this, they try to make the best of it, and show to everyone else that they are still living comfortably.
So I really wouldn't call these pictures "dismal" or representative of "scary working conditions."
Jonathan Fung [Gotakon]
Detroit9000,
These conditions definitly are NOT human rights violations. And can be compared very favorably to the conditions in industrializing America when Lowell was hiring women and having them work extreme hours in very unsafe conditions in textile mills. And at least these workers aren't locked in... the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire comes to mind.
And taxing these goods from china would probably be a bad idea. It wouldn't do anything to ease the trade deficit between the US and China. None of the tax revenues would go to the workers, so their quality of life would not improve. And taxes work to decrease consumer surplus, which is the extra benefit you receive from saving money in a purchase.
The only positive effect that most people think of rationalize these taxes is that taxes will raise prices, decrease product demand, and therefore labor demand as well. And therefore, these Chinese workers would be out of a job. Would that really be much better for them? They want to work, but lose their jobs.
Larry
No surprise . . . through history, people have been the most expendable item in China.
hwyhobo
Those pics look just like some of the shops I worked in when I was young. Pictures tend to overdramatize the atmosphere.
fstst56
You people must read too many books. Have you no idea what working conditions are here in the States? I too have put my fair share of time in at the factory and believe me (and Mark M) I've seen worse right here at home! Get a part-time job somewhere where you get dirt under your fingernails and then take a second look at those puctures, then you'll understand what countless Americans are enduring out on the production floor. We need stronger Unions.
hwyhobo
fstst56 wrote:
We need stronger Unions.
In all of the 30+ years in the workforce, a thought "boy, I wish I had been working in a Union shop" never once occurred to me. Perhaps it's the concept of seniority as an overriding principle of advancement that seems foreign to me.
Fred De Van
I see, it's Bolus and Snopes, giving the new owners of Chrysler something to strive for...
mrHAHA
And yet we here all this anti-union talk on this board(not that I'm a union member).
hwyhobo
mrHAHA wrote:
And yet we here all this anti-union talk on this board
"All this anti-union talk"? LOFLMAO.
BTW, it's "hear".
Ben
I've worked in a shop that looked like that.
jr
I agree with hwyhobo
I'm a co-op and I work around union workers. They are very lazy, and have nothing to worry about, since advancement and terminations are all based on seniority.
Matt Beau
I would say this casting plant in India is a much better example of unsafe working conditions:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/nyregion/26manhole.html
Anthony
It's surprising, but manufacturers who supply in China haven't changed anything, even with all the recent scares and recalls.
Nearly 80 percent said they didn’t feel the need to review their supply chains. Here’s a link to a study talking about it: http://www.thesmartcube.com/blog/
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Joseph Dolai
I run a tool and die mold manufacturing shop here and have now lived here and have 20 years full-time experience here. I can tell you that there is no one person who is really experienced in manufacturing will tell you that this photo is anything out of the ordinary for a growing economy and manufacturing. I can tell you about the Bridgeport, Connecticut industries and others as well. To be critical is the most comforting position, you can always say how terrible people or conditions are, if you really understand the process then you can go and show a better way but be ready for the hard work and not just be an example of academics and hot air then run away. Please do note the personal pride of some of the faces and yes they try to dress as best as possible even though this looks like a smaller village co-op factory in a South China province and that's how they all start, they are proud in their own accomplishments and please understand that even taking for granted that this shop might be an investor owned shop and he personally could care less how much he puts into it in Dollars but only how much he gets out of it, this is the bottom line, it also seems there is some "Gwaillo" customer sitting there with a grin on his chin counting his future profits after he ships the plugs to the retail stores and this is also a part of the cycle. As you can see there is not much to blame anywhere, can you criticize the fact that the Chinese are industrious? They must be, there is no welfare, or other social programs where you can go get a check or food stamps and have your rent or utilities and medical paid for. The whole sign here is that they work to grow the family unit, however and wherever possible and in many forms other than just the factory. I have nothing but admiration at the fortitude of the Chinese to come out of something that Americans could not even understand academically never mind live through it, they are building a society which can be the example of modern growth and development of technology, if this shop makes money this shop will not be like this for long I can guarantee that. In China the individualist direction is to grow the family which in turn grows everything else in society, I remember the 60's USA and the shops and the factories and the bustling economy, the ethnic social celebrations and the American National celebrations, it is something we lost in the USA from too much of a good thing and the association of "I have rights" but do not have to use it as a good tool to be a contributor to society but only as a user of society and what can I get for free. I wonder if this syndrome comes from the abundant wealth of a nation and the legal confusions where lawmakers are there with new laws and signs to prevent stupid people from climbing over 20 foot fences and falling into 50 foot holes, I saw more people get hurt in the OSHA compliant factories of New Haven and Bridgeport and in California in one year than I did here in China in the factory I ran in 10 years and I had 10,000 people.
China will also change and I wonder if China is already heading down the same road, I think a small difference is there will not be corrupt organizations to disturb the work force into thinking that the "organization will negotiate with the bosses" for them and will help them and then only help to detroy their jobs. I think that somehow the numbers of the Chinese people and the complex social mechanism which directs their interactions will be the factor to hold together China as an industrial nation.
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